MY FAIR LADY (DVD/DUAL L/WS/5.1/SUPERPANAVISION 70 2.2:1/COMM/FEATURETTE) DVD

My Fair Lady
At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after Cary Grant wisely turned down the movie job, and Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer Jack Warner felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Andrews instead made Mary Poppins, for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle Rex Harrison as Prof. Henry Higgins Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle Wilfrid Hyde-White as Col. Pickering Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Higgins Jeremy Brett as Freddy Eynsford-Hill Theodore Bikel as Zoltan Karpathy Mona Washbourne as Mrs. Pearce John Holland as Butler

Crew Hermes Pan - Choreography David Berman - Costume Designer Cecil Beaton - Costume Designer George Cukor - Director William H. Ziegler - Editor Andre Previn - Composer (Music Score) Frederick Loewe - Composer (Music Score) Alexander Courage - Musical Arrangement Andre Previn - Musical Direction/Supervision Gordon Bau - Makeup Gene Allen - Production Designer Cecil Beaton - Production Designer Harry Stradling - Cinematographer Jack L. Warner - Producer George James Hopkins - Set Designer Linwood G. Dunn - Special Effects Alan Jay Lerner - Screenwriter George Bernard Shaw - Play Author

My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is one of the screen's joyous achievements, an elegant musical filled with adult characters who think before they speak. Exquisitely produced by Warner Bros, it represents the zenith of the movie musical as an art form and as popular entertainment. Rex Harrison leads an impeccable cast, and, yes, that's Marni Nixon singing for Audrey Hepburn, but Hepburn is perfectly cast otherwise. The major star of the film is perhaps set designer/costume designer Cecil Beaton, whose visual contributions immediately impacted European and U.S. fashion trends. One of the best-looking movies ever made, My Fair Lady took eight Oscars, including Best Picture. Hepburn failed to be nominated in the Best Actress category, which was won by Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, in what many observers saw as backlash against Andrews' not being cast in the movie after originating the role of Eliza on stage. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
 

Alan Jay Lerner: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated) Andre Previn: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Adapted Score (winner) Audrey Hepburn: Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or C (nominated) Cecil Beaton: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Art Direction (winner) Cecil Beaton: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Costume Design (winner) Gene Allen: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Art Direction (winner) George Cukor: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Director (winner) George Cukor: Golden Globe, Best Director (winner) George Groves: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound (winner) George James Hopkins: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Art Direction (winner) Gladys Cooper: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Supporting Actress (nominated) Harry Stradling: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Cinematography (winner) Rex Harrison: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Actor (winner) Rex Harrison: Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com (winner) Rex Harrison: New York Film Critics Circle, Best Actor (winner) Stanley Holloway: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominated) Stanley Holloway: Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominated) William H. Ziegler: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Editing (nominated)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Picture (winner) American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) British Academy of Film and Television, Best Film - Any Source (winner) Golden Globe, Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (winner) National Board of Review, Best Picture (nominated) New York Film Critics Circle, Best Picture (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: cc Feature-length audio commentary that includes art director Gene Allen, singer Marni Nixon and restorers Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz Behind-the-scenes documentary The Fairest Fair Lady Alternate Audrey Hepburn vocal versions of Show Me and Wouldn't It Be Loverly? Interactive menus Production notes 4 theatrical trailers Scene access Subtitles and languages: English & Français DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: G DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 173 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Overture/Credits [3:31] 2. Rain/Covent Garden [2:16] 3. Phonetics in Play [4:04] 4. "Why Can't the English?" [2:58] 5. Higgins' Boast [1:38] 6. "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" [4:36] 7. Not Brass Farthing [5:03] 8. Something Better? [2:00] 9. Negotiations [6:19] 10. Angels Will Weep [4:59] 11. Bath Time [2:15] 12. "I'm an Ordinary Man" [5:00] 13. "With a Little Bit of Luck" [5:54] 14. Gift of Rhetoric [4:31] 15. Undeserving Poor [4:20] 16. "Just You Wait" [4:21] 17. As and Hs [2:21] 18. "Poor Professor Higgins" [4:54] 19. Pep Talk [1:33] 20. "The Rain in Spain" [4:12] 21. "I Could Have Danced All Night" [4:04] 22. "Ascot Gavotte" [3:30] 23. At the Races [1:37] 24. The New Small Talk [4:14] 25. His Bloomin' Arse [2:27] 26. "On the Street Where You Live" [4:49] 27. The Girl Matters [2:24] 28. Dressed for Ball [1:04] 29. Intermission [:39] 30. Entr'acte [1:13] 31. Zoltan Karpathy [1:41] 32. "The Embassy Waltz" [2:01] 33. Quite Charming [2:07] 34. Abuzz About Eliza [3:52] 35. "You Did It" [6:09] 36. What's to Become? [7:11] 37. "Just You Wait" Reprise [1:30] 38. "On the Street Where You Live" Reprise [1:19] 39. "Show Me" [3:06] 40. "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" Reprise [3:10] 41. Respectable! [3:41] 42. "Get Me to the Church on Time" [6:03] 43. Eliza's Bolted [2:11] 44. "A Hymn to Him" [4:52] 45. Lady's Whereabouts [2:42] 46. Eliza's Future [4:10] 47. "Without You" [4:51] 48. "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" [4:38] 49. Where the Devil? [3:09] 50. End Credits [1:18]